Author Archives: Omar A.

TEIN EDFC ACTIVE

Posted on by

What’s up guys?

As previously mentioned in a post last month, we are glad to announce our new EDFC ACTIVE.  I know, I know, you’re all excited as much as we are. So to ease the anxiety we are detailing all the features on the new product. Feel free to visit our Facebook page, our website, or take a look at last month’s post by Paul to get the full details.

Besides the new EDFC having wireless capabilities and all those extra bells and whistles, did you know that the actual display color can be adjusted to your liking? If not, then as I once heard in a song “If you don’t know, now you know” lol. You can choose from white, green, amber, & blue. In addition to those colors, fine-tunable custom colors are also available.

 

This is a great feature that was not available in the previous model.  So to all who’s pet peeve is not being able to coordinate the color of your controller unit  to your gauges or interior. It’s safe to say that you can now see the colors of the rainbow by tapping a button as if you where sending a text on your phone.

 

 

 

 

 

Learning the OVERHAUL repair process

Posted on by

When it comes to overhauls I’m usually the person in charge of carrying out all the steps. Except for one which is the most important of them all , the actual repair. The way it works is as followed- We receive the package and check it in then we move it to our R&D department for a repair inspection. Upon the inspection I contact the customer and secure the repair payment and/or  final overhaul decision. Upon completion of repair a recontact the customer to verify shipping information and that’s where it ends.

 

The disassembling of our dampers is not that difficult. Breaking down the piston rod and internal components, then cleaning them from dirt, dust, rust, and debris  is also not that difficult. It does, however, get a little repetitive. Now, where it gets tricky is reassembling the internal components.  As some of the parts (shims) tend to look the same but are nevertheless different in design and thickness. There are many steps that need to be done to successfully overhaul a damper. I will save the details as they are confidential but I must say that re-greasing, and re-torquing all the components is the easiest step of all.

 

 

Well, now I have actually learned the repair process. Unfortunately for us here at TEIN one of our R&D staff members has left us to work as a CHP officer. Fortunately for me, I have now learned a new skill and got my hands on repair action. We’ll still leave that work for our trained engineers. As for me, I’m glad I’ve been able to learn more of the details that goes into an overhaul.

 

 

Formula Drift 2012

Posted on by

The last event for Formula Drift 2012 was this past Saturday, October 13th. Luckily I attended the event not only as a spectator but also an employee of TEIN, as we had our own booth.  Unfortunately I only got glimpses of the actual drift event as most of my time was spent behind the counter. It was a very busy, busy, busy event I must say.  However I did get a chance to walk around and take a look at all the hard working models (wink wink) and attending show cars.

Customers came in by our booth throughout the day. It was nice to meet and speak with many of our customers.

It seems as though everywhere I looked there was a lowered FRS/BRZ plastered with sponsor stickers, body kit, and/or graphic designs. Of course there were other vehicles like Fords, Honda’s, Mitsubishi Evo’s , Mazda’s, Toyota’s, etc., you name it.  One car that stood out to me the most was our very own United States Air force project car. This Dodge Challenger was more beefed up than a plate of sloppy joes, with a double cheeseburger, and a side of carne asada. Ill spare detailing the modification as I’m sure most of you can look that up.

United States Air Force built this Challenger. Looked and sounded mean.

In a nut shell the event was great. Daigo Saito and his Lexus SC430 were crowned the winner of this season. Unfortunately Vaughn Gittin Jr. and his Mustang (rocking our coilover’s) came in second. Still, a great season for Vaughn.

One mean looking ride- Vaughn Gittin Jr.’s Monster Mustang.

Justin”JTP” Pawlak also had a good race this past weekend, taking second place for the closing race of the season.

Justin Pawlak in the Falken Mustang. This guy, as well as all the Falken backed drivers, are crazy talented in what they do!

Nevertheless the turn out was exactly as we anticipated (sold out). It was a great day for us and we look forward to attending next year’s season.

Just a small view of the sold out event. The grandstands were literally packed with fans. Pretty crazy to experience that!

 

HRE Wheels had a nice display, showing an old school Toyota 86 next to the new school 86 (Scion FR-S).

 

Brian from Mackin Industries (Distributor of Volk Racing and Advan Wheels) Scion FR-S. He uses TEIN Flex dampers on this setup.

To all the fans, drivers, teams, and organizers for Formula Drift, thank you for another great season! See you all next year.

 

*some pictures sourced from Speedhunters.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEIN VALVE CAPS

Posted on by

Introducing our limited edition TEIN valve caps.

These valve caps will add an additional +10hp to your engine. You will also save 7mpg when replacing your oem caps for these ones…Just Kidding!!!

On a serious note we are now taking pre-orders for our limited edition TEIN valve caps. They will be available around late September. These caps are manufactured using high quality stainless steel alloy. It also uses a rubber seal ring inside to prevent air leakage and prevent dust and dirt getting into the valve. Also imprinted at the top is our “T” logo with a green background. The MSRP for a set of 4 is $14.  Please reference part number “TN027-001” when submitting your orders. To find the nearest TEIN authorized dealer to order these Valve Caps from, please visit the following link

http://www.tein.com/dealer_list/index.html

These caps are a great addition to your wheel set up. They will definitely stand out compared to the OEM black plastic ones.

If you’re a TEIN enthusiast, loyal customer, automotive perfectionist, or just like to own collectors items these caps are for you. Shoot, you don’t even have to drive a car. You can be the cool kid on the block and swap out your bike’s tire valve caps for these and have TEIN bragging rights!

 

 

Applying Suspension Preload

Posted on by

What’s up, people? Here I go again with some helpful tips when installing lowering springs and coilover kits.

I have to honestly say that we hear the following questions countless times during the work week.

“Why is one corner of my car higher than the other?” Or, “Why is my ride height uneven?”……………..(AHHH..here we go again)..lol.

The solution is actually quite simple. The first things to check are for worn-out suspension components. We advise to check all components carefully and thoroughly. Anything can contribute to the issue previously mentioned. Worn out bushing, incorrect spring, blown damper, spring perches are not even, missing or mis-installed components, etc. If everything checks out fine, then the only candidate that would contribute to uneven ride height would be suspension pre-load. This issue is commonly encountered when installing lowering springs and/or dampers on vehicles with double wishbone or multi-link suspensions.

In some cases the lowering spring or coilover kit is installed while the suspension is in a full droop.  This means that the bolts on the lower control arm were tightened while the arm was hanging down. In other words, there is no load on the suspension when tightening all components.  When the vehicle is brought back down the bushings twist causing the suspension to not settle correctly thus resulting in a uneven ride height.

The first thing you want to do is lift the car back up. Them loosen the bolts on the control arm and shock absorber. Once in the air use a second jack to apply load on the control arm. This simulates as if the car was on the ground and the control arm is back to its original position. Then re- tighten all the bolts loosen in the previous step. Follow this process with all four corners, then bring the vehicle back down. If you follow these instructions, this should help get the vehicle to the correct ride height. Plus,
you will have learned another method on how to correct uneven ride heights, if you ever run into a similar situation in the future!

 

One Roaring S13

Posted on by

Well hello there world. This month I want the spotlight to focus on Rob Symonds’ S13.

Rob contacted us around mid May for an overhaul + revalving for his TEIN HE dampers. We got the job done and satisfied our customers expectation.  After everything was said and done he shoots us an email that makes me fall out of my seat! Yeah I’ve seen s13’s driving around and in car shows  but this one I must say is at the top of my list.

His request sounded easy enough. But Rob was also pretty specific with what he wanted. This didn’t turn out to be a standard damper rebuild for us. Then again, Rob isn’t your regular ‘ol car guy. He knows exactly what he wants. To get the most out of a damper revalve, we ask a gamut of questions about the car, the setup, the types of road courses it races on, etc. Sometimes we get more information than we need, but Rob didn’t talk up a storm about his engine modifications- in fact, his motor is a stock, naturally aspirated KA24. It was previously a turbocharged motor, detuned for simplicity and reliability’s sake (did we mention that Rob is an engineer at Garrett? He definitely knows his way around a motor!),  Roll cage, or vented fiber glass hood. Not once did he mentioned his 17 inch Enkei RPF1 wheels, Hoosier A6 slick tires, or HAWK DTC-60 brake pads. He also did not tell us about his long list of sponsors or 5 minutes of fame on this years January edition of Modified Magazine. Then again, some details are better left unsaid. Maybe not! We wanted to hear more!

Rob is simply a race enthusiast. He spends time building his car to get the setup right, just like many of you out there, all in a quest for the quickest time around the track! We appreciate guys just like Rob!

Check out the images and video below to get the corner panels point of view of this 240 on the track.

  [vsw id=”28997157″ source=”vimeo” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”yes”]

Compression and Rebound

Posted on by

What’s up guys? If you are still not sure on what the difference is between compression and rebound on a damper, let me explain. Compression damping is the force experienced when the damper is being compressed. In the case of most vehicles, this is when the damper moves upwards relative to its mounting position; a good example is when you hit a bump at high speeds on the road. If there was no compression on your shocks or struts your tire would just move upwards along with the vehicle, losing contact with the ground. With compression, the tire will deflect over the bump allowing the damper to absorb the impact (hence the name- Shock Absorber) and the tire will extend back to its original state, all the while reducing the vehicle’s motion and not disturbing the comfort of you and your passengers.

Rebound damping is the force that is experienced when a shock absorber returns from its compressed state to its original state. When a damper is in the process of rebound the spring goes from being compressed back to normal releasing all the tension from the compression. In some cases the ride feels bouncy or stiff because of the  spring rate and/or damping force settings not being compatible.  Keep in mind that if you have a damping force adjustable coil over the stiffer your settings are the slower the rebound. The softer your settings are the faster the rebound.

An example that we offer from TEIN is our Super Racing kit which gives you the advantage to tailor the compression and rebound aspect of the dampers (2-way adjustment). The adjustment is provided by two dedicated adjustment knobs, one being on the top of the piston shaft for rebound while the other is on the reservoir tank for compression or the bottom of the damper on strut applications. As mentioned earlier you also have to take in consideration the spring rate you are using with your coil over kit. 

Super Racing with separate compression and rebound adjustment

Another example, this time with emphasis on the importance of damper rebound, would be our Group N dampers with F.R.S. (Fast Rebound System). In rally, where the surface is less than smooth and has many transitions in traction, there are many times where the wheel will lose contact with the ground. This translates into time lost trying to accelerate and gain grip.

Group N dampers with F.R.S.

This purely mechanical feature detects when the tire has lost traction and activates the by-pass valve to allow rebound force to decrease momentarily, letting the wheel and tire extend further down.

The picture above shows the difference between the standard Group N dampers to the Group N with F.R.S. This seemingly small feature makes a world of difference in much needed traction.

If you are in the market for new dampers, we’d like to hear your suspension needs. Feel free to give us a call to hear our recommendations!

Monster Falken 2012 Mustang

Posted on by

Working here at TEIN USA, I’m usually getting picked on because I would rather drive American muscle vs. a Japanese import. Now don’t get me wrong, Japanese import vehicles are reliable cars that can be tuned to perfection. But I’m more of a supercharged, convertible Roush Mustang with a Dual Flowmaster exhaust system type of guy. The 2012 Monster energy/ Falken Tire sponsored Mustang is a very good example of what I’m talking about. It has a roaring 800 horsepower 6.7-liter V8 engine. It also sports a set of Azenis RT615K tires and HRE Wheels Competition Series C21. I bet you guys are wondering, “OK, it’s a beast of a car, but what does it have to do with TEIN”, right? Well of course I wouldn’t be blogging about this beauty just because of its performance tuning and RTR body kit if it did not sport our TEIN 2-way adjustable coil overs with dual EDFC custom made to maneuver this pony 🙂

 

 

Japanese Spec Vs. US Spec Coil-overs

Posted on by

Recently I have noticed that a lot of consumers and dealers of ours inquire about the differences between a Japanese-spec coilover kit and a U.S.-spec coilover kit. Relax, grab a cup of coffee, and let me do some explaining. It’s actually quite simple.

One of the main differences between these kits is the valving and in some cases spring rates. The U.S.-spec coilover kit comes with a more aggressive valving. The reason behind this is because consumers in the U.S. prefer a slightly more aggressive coilover in comparison to consumers in Japan. U.S. vehicle’s may also have some manufacturing differences opposed to the ones released overseas.

But as mentioned earlier, another factor is the spring rates. Some of the U.S.-spec coilover’s come with a stiffer spring to match the aggressive valving of the dampers. Of course there are other differences between the dampers besides the valving and spring rate. Damper designs may vary from U.S. to Japanese kits such as damper mounting points, damper body and stroke lengths, and required OEM parts.

As a side note- some U.S. applications may be compatible with Japanese dampers with no modifications whatsoever. But we recommended to verify with TEIN prior to purchasing these kits.

In conclusion, regardless if the coilover kit is Japanese or US spec they both come down to one thing- they both cater to different markets which is a matter of consumer preference. However, TEIN is able to assist with customization of your TEIN dampers through our Overhaul and Revalving service available Stateside through our in-house service departments in the East Coast and West Coast facilities. As a performance suspension manufacturer for a global market, we realize it is difficult to appease all customers. But we can definitely assist our customers in dialing in their suspension for their specific needs, all of which is for your driving pleasure!

Cardomain

Posted on by

 

To all the car fanatics and Tein supporters out there who keep up with our blogs. I have stumbled upon a website in which you can show off your vehicle like on a summer night parking lot meet with out the authorities making you sweat. Car domain is like a Facebook for your vehicle dedicated to car fanatics of all vehicles all over the world. In the search engine just type in TEIN and a list will automatically populate with all the profiles on the website that have TEIN products listed as a modification to their vehicle. If you do not own any of our products and are considering one of our kits, you can possibly view how your vehicle would look with our kits by searching for your vehicle’s model on this site. You can also send messages, request new friends, add images, and list modification as easy as any other social networking website. Below are some pictures of some nifty vehicles I found with our products installed. Visit the website to check it out for yourself.